Projects and Initiatives

In order to better take stock of current work being done in the realm of doctoral education, ‘Projects and Initiatives’ presents information about projects being carried out by organizations related to postgraduate training and management. Projects listed here share a common focus, all or in part, on African higher education.

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is a pan-African organisation headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, that recognises individuals who have reached the highest level of excellence in their field of expertise and have made contributions to the advancement of the field in the continent. These individuals are recognised on merit and designated as Fellows of the Academy. There are about 340 AAS Fellows and Associate Fellows who are proven science, technology and innovation leaders, policy advisors and thinkers most of whom live and work throughout the continent. The Academy also gives prizes, funds research that is relevant to Africa’s challenges, and works with policymakers to develop science strategies in line with its three focal areas: recognising excellence; implementing science, technology and innovation programmes and providing think-tank functions. The AAS’ six priority science, technology and innovation areas are climate change; health and Wellbeing; STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics); water and sanitation; food security and nutritional wellbeing and sustainable energy.

The Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) is a funding platform established by the African Academy of Sciences and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency to develop science strategies and fund research in Africa. AESA seeks to develop research leadership and promote scientific excellence and innovation to overcome some of Africa’s developmental challenges that include the shortage of researchers to deal with its disease burden. AESA supports initiatives in all areas of science, particularly health research, relevant to Africa by running proposal writing workshops, helping to set and align the science agenda for the African continent and managing entire grant cycles for initiatives being implemented with international partners.

The DELTAS Africa programme, a scheme initiated by the Wellcome Trust in partnership with aesa and other partners, supports the African-led development of world class researchers and research leaders in Africa.

This is a long term programme which, over an initial period of five years (2015-2020), will support collaborative teams to conduct health research, offer training fellowships and mentorship, and invest in research infrastructure

The Association of African Universities (AAU), is headquartered in Accra, Ghana, and is an apex organization. The Association provides a platform for research, reflection, consultation, debates, co-operation and collaboration on issues pertaining to higher education. It provides a range of services to its members and serves African higher education in a variety of ways. It has established and increased its role in the five sub-regions of Africa and can assemble teams of experts in relevant fields from the sub-regions.

AAU has several programmes and services that have implications for doctoral research and training on the continent. Their website includes several online resources for African higher education institutions including the Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD) and information on various research project being undertaken regarding African higher education.

The Phase I Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) Project for West and Central Africa covers the themes of Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Health Sciences and Agricultural Sciences. The World Bank in collaboration with West and Central African countries launched the Africa Centers of Excellence project. AAU is the key regional facilitation partner.The Project Objectives are to:

promote regional specialization among participating universities in areas that address specific common regional development challenges,

strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver high quality training and applied research,

meet the demand for skills required for Africa's development, such as the extractive industries,

In the face of the prevailing economic conditions on the continent, many graduate students in African universities often encounter hardship in respect of the necessary resources to complete their research programmes on time or produce work of high quality.

The Small Grants for Dissertations and Theses Programme is aimed at dealing with this problem, which has a profound effect on human resource development in the higher education sector.

The objectives of this program are to facilitate the early completion of research Dissertations and Theses by graduate students in African universities; to improve the quality of research conducted by graduate students in African universities.

The ECOWAS Academic Mobility Scheme is an initiative that is a response to the recommendation of the ECOWAS Ministers in charge of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The ECOWAS Ministers recommended, inter alia, that the ECOWAS Commission should “Create within the region, an academic mobility system for students and teachers (including diaspora) and encourage institutions to put in place language immersion programmes to promote mobility of students and teachers in the region.”

The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is the world's first and oldest international university network, established in 1913.A UK-registered charity, the ACU has over 500 member institutions in developed and developing countries across the Commonwealth. Drawing on the collective experience and expertise of our membership, the ACU seeks to address issues in international higher education through a range of projects, networks, and events.The ACU administers scholarships, provides academic research and leadership on issues in the sector, and promotes inter-university cooperation and the sharing of good practice – helping universities serve their communities, now and into the future.In addition to the activities listed below, the ACU website hosts resources including a publications database featuring reports, papers, analysis, and conference presentations. These are available to staff at ACU member institutions only, and individuals must register for the ACU members area on the website first.

The Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa (CIRCLE) programme is an initiative to develop the skills and research output of early career African researchers in the field of climate change and its local impacts on development. The programme is funding 100 one-year, intra-African, supervised research fellowships, including 60 postdoctoral fellowships. In addition to being matched with a research supervisor at their host institution, each fellow is also paired with a mentor from their home university and an international expert in their field of research. The programme also works with home institutions to strengthen institutional mechanisms for supporting the career development of emerging researchers.

Funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), CIRCLE is being implemented by the ACU in partnership with the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), with support from Vitae and the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich, UK.

The Structured Training for African Researchers (STARS) project works collaboratively with African universities to develop and refine professional development for academic staff early in their careers. Through the project, nine modules of a blended learning course in soft skills to support early career academic staff have been developed by African-based authors and piloted, each drawing on expert guidance from academics drawn from across Africa. Resources are made available under a Creative Commons licence so that universities can adapt and embed the training into their own in-house provision. The programme is supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

The Nairobi Process – a collaboration between the ACU and the British Academy – aims to strengthen research in the humanities and social sciences in African countries.

Between 2007 and 2009, a consultation took place on the problems which faced the African humanities and social sciences community, what could be done to strengthen research in these fields, and what the role of partnerships between African scholars and their colleagues in the UK or elsewhere might be. Two reports (The Nairobi Report and Foundations for the Future) were produced from this initial consultation. In 2015, a further review was conducted, concentrating on where international collaboration and support should focus. The next generation report (soon to be published) emphasises the value and the importance of investing in the development of early career researchers.

The ACU Gender Programme supports the recruitment and retention of women in higher education leadership and management, and promotes gender equity as an integral institutional goal.

The programme – established in 1985 – aims to improve the management of higher education institutions in the Commonwealth by:

• Increasing both the quantity and quality of trained women leaders and managers in higher education institutions in the Commonwealth• Introducing a range of gender equity training strategies and materials that are replicable, or may be adapted for use, in all Commonwealth countries• Making these training materials easily and widely accessible• Providing gender equity training opportunities and support for the development of trainers and consultants at national and regional levels• Building a support network of women professionals who are already, or who have the potential to be, leaders in higher education

ACU Measures is an annual online benchmarking exercise for university management. It is a unique opportunity for ACU member institutions to benchmark their performance in key areas of university management in a confidential and non-competitive way.

Rather than seeking to rank institutions, ACU Measures helps universities to compare and contrast their practices and policies with their peers, supporting senior university management in decision-making and strategic planning.

ACU Measures enables university management to:

• Benchmark their institution’s performance over time and demonstrate the impact of managerial changes• Learn about performance in a given area• Define their own comparison groups and produce individualised reports, tables, and charts• Use the results to make a case for resources, staff, or training• Share experiences and good practice with international colleagues• Identify which issues are specific to their institution, as opposed to national or regional

CAAST-Net Plus is a four-year initiative, coordinated by the ACU and funded by the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, to support the EU’s policy of international cooperation in scientific and technological research and innovation with Africa. The project consortium of 26 national institutions from Africa and Europe focuses on EU-Africa cooperation in three global societal challenges: health for all, food and nutrition security, and climate

The Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) was created in 2002. The ACUP’s main purpose is to be the principal voice of the universities of Catalonia and combine efforts to promote initiatives, programmes and joint projects with the aim of improving the university system and ensuring that it spearheads social, cultural and economic development.

From 2009 to 2014, ACUP developed under the framework of the Inter-University Consortium of University Management for University Management a series of projects relating to improving the relationship between Spanish and African universities. One of this projects, which focused on doctoral education, resulted in a strong cooperation with the IAU, particularly in the creation of this platform and the organisation of a joint ACUP-IAU International Seminar on Innovative Approaches to Doctoral Education and Research Training in Africa as well as to the publication of different reports on the issue.

The project explored the use of Personal Learning Environments for Doctoral Students (PLEDS), a lifetime personal web space, equipped with software, communication, search, social and multimedia tools that allows students to gather and organize relevant learning information from the net and to disseminate their own material, as a new model of effective e-supervision.

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Kenyatta University and the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) worked together on the PLEDS-project thanks to a grant received as part of the IAU LEADHER programme. The goal of this project was to analyze the use of digital technologies, more specifically the web 2.0 tools, in order to respond two main needs identified in doctoral education in sub-Saharan Africa: the supervision of doctoral students and the visibility of research.

In this sense, PLEDS was to be used as a mean to create a digital identity for doctoral students, serving as a digital public notebook and personal repository, facilitating the establishment of a virtual network between colleagues working in the same field, including mentors and tutors. The project was put on hold due to lack of funding but project findings can be shared.

The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), established in 1988 is a public not-for-profit organization devoted to the advancement of economic policy research and training. AERC's mission is to strengthen local capacity for conducting independent, rigorous inquiry into the problems facing the management of economies in sub-Saharan Africa.

That mission rests on two basic premises. First, that development is more likely to occur where there is sustained sound management of the economy. Second, that such management is more likely to happen where there is an active, well-informed group of locally based professional economists to conduct policy-relevant research. Specifically, then, AERC intends to:

Enhance the capacity of locally based researchers to conduct policy-relevant economic inquiry,

Promote the retention of such capacity, and

Encourage its application in the policy context.

Donor governments, private foundations, and African and international organizations support the AERC programme, which has two primary components: research and training. The AERC Research Programme uses a flexible approach towards improving the technical skills of local researchers, allowing for regional determination of research priorities and strengthening national institutions concerned with economic policy research. The programme also fosters closer ties between researchers and policy makers. The Training Programme supports both master's and doctoral level studies in economics and helps improve the capacities of departments of economics in public universities across the continent. A comprehensive communications and outreach strategy encourages the application of AERC products to economic policy making.

The Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP) in Economics was launched in December 2002 with the primary aim of strengthening teaching and research capacity in sub-Saharan African countries, increasing the pool of potential researchers and policy analysts, and gradually building-up and retaining African scholars in Africa, hence, leading to the eventual reduction of the brain drain from the continent. Further, the Programme was expected to increase output of professionals conversant with and specialists in African problems, thus leading to the possible emergence of various theories and African solutions to these problems. The Programme integrates theory, tools and African applications into academic teaching, hence, ensuring that the theory is firmly grounded on the empirical side.

Africalics was founded during the Innovation and development workshop that took place in March 2012 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The workshop was co-organized by the globelics Secretariat and the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Research organization (STIPRO), a Tanzanian independent think tank.

Objectives

The formation of Africalics was centered on the following two rationales:

A need to understand innovation and learning in the context of Africa – both from theoretical and practical perspectives.

Given the fact that Africa lacks adequate capacity for the above purpose, a need for capacity building arose.

It was envisioned that Africalics network can become a strong dynamo for capacity building in the specific field of innovation and economic development, both at the individual, institutional and country levels. This can allow African countries to design policies suitable and responsive to their own needs, and instigate corrective measures to ensure the smooth production, dissemination and use of knowledge for economic development, including poverty alleviation.

Africalics has lined up a number of activities in order to achieve its objective of promoting the development of research capacity in Africa. These include regional based PhD Academies planned as part of the endevour to support the training of African Ph.D/Masters students engaged in research on Innovation and Technology Systems for Development and stimulate their awareness of policy and management issues related to this field of research. These Academies aim to host students selected primarily from Africa and small number of students from the rest of the world. It will be a regular event to take place each year in a different region in Africa. The facilitators will be drawn from frontier researchers in innovation and development from around the world and will be expected to provide lectures and mentor the selected students.

The African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions is a regional non-governmental organization (NGO) which was established in January 1980 by UNESCO with funding from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the German Government.

The vision of ANSTI is to become a major institutional player in the process of human resource capacity building in Science, Engineering and Technology in Africa. The Network works to become the region's focal point for activities relating to human resource capacity building in Science and Technology (S&T).

In 1999, the OAU (Organization of African Unity) Heads of State and Government issued the Sirte Declaration calling for the establishment of a new African Union. The vision for the Union was to build on the OAU’s work by establishing a body that could accelerate the process of integration in Africa, support the empowerment of African states in the global economy and address the multifaceted social, economic and political problems facing the continent.

The Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union launched the Second Decade of Education for Africa EX/CL/224 (VIII) Rev.2 which identified tertiary level education as one of the seven priorities to be focused on for the period 2006-2015. As a result the Pan African University (PAU) was founded. PAU aims to promote networks and develop programs and research centers within selected existing high quality universities in the five geographic sub-regions of Africa, namely Northern, Western, Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.

The Mwalimu Nyerere African Union Scholarship Scheme was launched in 2007 withthe aim of contributing to the production and retention of high calibre African humancapital for sustainable development of the continent in critical development areas, whilepromoting regional integration through intra-African mobility of students. TheScholarship Scheme is intended to enable young Africans to study in leading AfricanUniversities with a binding agreement that beneficiaries will work in an African countryfor at least the same duration of scholarship period after graduation.

The Pan African University is the culmination of continental initiatives of the Commission of the African Union to revitalize higher education and research in Africa. It is a project that will exemplify excellence, enhance the attractiveness and global competitiveness of African higher education and research and establish the African University at the core of Africa’s development. The Pan African University will greatly boost the population and retention of high level human resources and quality knowledge outputs and be able to attract the best intellectual capacity from all over the world.

The first four institutes of the Pan African University will be hosted as follows:

1. Western Africa PAU Institute of Life and Earth Sciences at University of Ibadan, Nigeria

2. Eastern Africa PAU Institute of Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology

3. Central Africa – PAU Institute of Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences at University of Yaounde

‘_Cambridge-Africa’_ makes the University of Cambridge’s globally-renown expertise, resources and influence readily available to help support African partner universities and research institutions to be at the forefront of international competitiveness. It is a Cambridge-wide umbrella organization that integrates a range of Africa capacity building initiatives, which make high-quality, personalized, fellowship training available to African PhD and post-doctoral researchers employed in African universities, to support their PhD and post-doctoral research in Africa. These programmes include proactive support for African research networks, and feature the careful matching of the African researchers to leading Cambridge researchers to provide mentorship and collaborative support both in Cambridge and in the African researchers home universities. Integrated within, or partnered with, Cambridge-Africa are: THRiVE (Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa), MUII (Makerere University/UVRI Infection & Immunity Research Training Programme), CAPREx (Cambridge-Africa Partnership for Research Excellence) with Makerere University Uganda and the University of Ghana Legon, the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA research fund, the Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research, and the Cambridge-Africa PhD scholarship programme. Funding is provided by the Wellcome Trust, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the ALBORADA Trust, the Isaac Newton Trust, the Cambridge Trust, and the University of Cambridge.

The overall aim of CAPREx (Cambridge-Africa Partnership for Research Excellence) is to strengthen Africa's capacity for sustainable excellence in research, through close collaborative work with the region's most talented individuals. CAPREx will therefore equip African academics with the skills, resources, networks and vision to become internationally competitive and successful researchers and research managers/administrators.

A one-year postdoctoral research fellowship in the humanities and social sciences (Makerere University) and in engineering and biological sciences (University of Ghana Legon). During this year, academic fellows visit Cambridge for a duration of between 1 and 6 months to work with Cambridge academics on a collaborative piece of research. Details of current Research Fellows can be found on the Researcher Profiles webpages.

Previously, the Programme offered research management fellowships. African research managers or administrators visit were able to visit the Research Operations Office in Cambridge for training and skills development. More information can be found on the Research Management Training webpages.

The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP) is a scholar fellowship program for educational projects at African higher education institutions. Offered by IIE in partnership with the United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa), the program is funded by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY). In the first two years of the program, the CADFP supported 110 short-term faculty fellowships for African-born academics. In October 2015, additional funding was secured from CCNY to support up to 140 fellowships. The program exemplifies CCNY's enduring commitment to higher education in Africa. IIE manages and administers the program, including applications, project requests and fellowships.

CARTA has two primary objectives, namely: to strengthen research infrastructure and management capacity at African universities, and to support doctoral training through a model collaborative PhD program in population and public health. The objectives are designed to realize CARTA’s ultimate goal of building local research capacity to understand the determinants of health in Africa and develop effective interventions to improve health systems and outcomes.

CARTA coordinates and funds a vast amount of PhD scholarships. They further offer

CARTA offers an innovative model for doctoral training in sub-Saharan Africa to strengthen the capacity of participating institutions to conduct and lead internationally-competitive research.

The multi-disciplinary CARTA program is open to staff members from participating institutions who are interested in conducting their PhD research on topics relevant to the broad fields of public and population health. Applications are solicited from disciplines, such as public health, demography, anthropology, economics, among others, as long as the research question aims to contribute to public and population health issues.

Specifically, CARTA funds candidates who will be future leaders in their institutions; that is, young, capable, and committed individuals who, in time, will ensure that their universities will be the institutions of choice for future generations of academics and university administrators wishing to make a positive impact on public and population health in Africa.

Central to the training of fellows in the CARTA program is a series of residential Joint Advanced Seminars (JAS). Residential training offers an advantage for the program in that students will be able to focus fully on specific program tasks, learn collaboratively, interact with local and international facilitators, and develop and consolidate professional networks.The JAS are offered about once each year for four years to each cohort, and are designed to build skills and conceptual depth from year to year. Each JAS runs for 3 to 4 weeks.

Effective supervision of research degree candidates is complex and remains key to successful and timely completion of a quality PhD. As part of its efforts to promote the capacity of university academic and research faculty to train, supervise, and mentor graduate students, win research grants, conduct high-quality research, and manage collaborative research projects, CARTA hosts a series of workshops for university faculty and staff. Under the research governance and management initiative, the Program includes a workshop for CARTA PhD Fellows’ supervisors to ensure that supervisors and mentors have a clear understanding of, and commitment to, the goals of the CARTA program, as well as benefit from a collegial discussion of best practices in doctoral supervision and mentoring. These workshops are developed and facilitated by local and international experts in doctoral supervision and mentoring.

Faculty and Administrators’ Staff Workshops (FAS) Training are offered to all African member institutions. The workshop aims to strengthen the capacity of staff of CARTA member-institutions in research management and governance, use of information technology, supervision and mentoring of graduate students, grant writing, and librarianship. Through the focal persons, African member institutions are invited to nominate a specific number of faculty and staff members to attend these workshops. Priority is given to those who have not attended any such training in the past and to broader representation of the various sections of the academic community. CARTA’s attention in addressing gender balance does not only regard selection of PhD fellows but also participants who attend the FAS workshops.

University faculty and administrative staff play a key role in graduate training and research management. Yet, many of them lack opportunities to learn from best practices around the world and often work in isolation from each other. CARTA seeks to strengthen human resources and university-wide systems critical to the success and sustainability of its program. Each year, CARTA holds workshops targeted towards: a) librarians and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) personnel; b) graduate program coordinators, including deans; c) bursars; and d) registrars.

Carnegie Corporation of New York is America’s oldest grant making foundation.

Established in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation's work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy. The Carnegie Corporation of New York has a special interest in Higher Education in Africa. Please see their Homepage for more information.

The Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET) is a non-governmental organisation located in South Africa that mobilises transdisciplinary skills for specific research and capacity development projects by tapping available expertise in the national and international higher education sector. It offers a variety of documents, data and projects related to higher education and doctoral education in Africa.

The research component of HERANA is investigating the complex relationships between higher education and development in the African context, with a specific focus on economic and democratic development. HERANA is currently in its third phase. Phase I focused on the relationship between higher education and development – economic and democratic – in Africa. Phase II consisted of the enhancement of information capacity-building for evidence-based policy-making and management, the development of a better understanding of the national higher education commissions and their roles in policy coordination, and a study of the incentive/rewards of African academics. The current Phase III focuses on the institutionalisation of six years of capacity building in performance data collection within the eight HERANA network universities (Botswana University, Cape Town University, University of Dar Es Salaam, Eduardo Moondlane University, Ghana University, Makerere University, University of Mauritius, University of Nairobi, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University), combined with the promotion of developing institution-specific policies to contribute to the institutions’ knowledge-producing capabilities. This will form part of a larger set of activities to develop a group of research-intensive flagship universities in Africa.

CIFAR is founded on the belief that the grand possibilities and global problems that face humanity will only be addressed with different and new ways of thinking. Through its unique research programs, CIFAR creates strong connections between the world’s top researchers that spark unconventional perspectives and groundbreaking insights. Pioneering thinkers, both early-career and distinguished, enjoy a precious and rare commodity: the freedom to take intellectual risks that through sustained effort have the potential to lead to transformative knowledge. Today, CIFAR researchers are working on global challenges that hold the potential to improve human health, transform technology, build strong societies and sustain the Earth.

Young investigators play a critical role in driving change within the research landscape. The CIFAR Global Academy enables exceptional early career researchers from across Canada, and around the world, to engage with our networks, develop their leadership skills and act as catalysts for change beyond their academic environment.

Global Academy activities span a wide range of initiatives and engage young scholars at all levels – graduate, post-doctoral, assistant professor. The Global Academy leverages the inherent energy, enthusiasm and ability of young researchers to take a fresh look at problems and gives them the skills and opportunities to become tomorrow’s research leaders.

Founded in 2002, the Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education (CIRGE) is the first U.S. research centre devoted to the study and improvement of doctoral education worldwide.Among today’s PhD graduates are tomorrow’s leaders, researchers, and innovators who confront a complex set of social, political, cultural, technical, environmental and health issues within a global setting. CIRGE’s mission is to meet the urgent need for understanding doctoral education practices and outcomes worldwide and to discover how best to prepare PhD students to increase the world’s capacity for solving global problems and meeting human needs.Based on research, publications, consulting, international collaborations and workshops, CIRGE has become a trusted source of valid information and data about graduate education outcomes, as well as a site of sophisticated analyses on issues vital to doctoral education and innovative ideas; helping universities respond to today’s challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that change offers.CIRGE firmly believes research on the career trajectories of former students and their retrospective evaluations of the effectiveness of their graduate programs is crucial in a knowledge-based world society, both for academic institutions that provide graduate education, and for government, industry, and non-profits that now employ the majority of U.S-trained PhDs.

Related to doctoral education on a global level, CIRGE engages the “Forces and Forms of Change in Doctoral Education Worldwide” (F&F) network to facilitate the exchange, synthesis, production, and knowledge of doctoral education from a wide range of disciplines and world regions.

The International Doctoral Education Research Network (IDERN) was formed to provide an avenue for researchers on doctoral education from around the globe to generate dialogue on knowledge creation and doctoral pedagogy. The aim of the network was to generate a collaborative, international research agenda for doctoral education; to build a research field in this most advanced form of educational provision, and to connect researchers from different national settings, as well as different disciplines and research perspectives. The network operates since 2007 and aims to meet for a research forum once every three years, as well as to use online technologies to share and disseminate information and research on the doctorate. A listserve run by Dr. Mark Connolly, University of Wisconsin–Madison, is, outside of the triennial meetings, the primary means of keeping this research community connected.

The DAAD has a long tradition of uniting people and academia. Founded in Heidelberg in 1925 on the initiative of a single student, the DAAD has since become one of the most important funding organisations in the world for the international exchange of students and researchers. The DAAD supports over 100,000 German and international students und researchers around the globe each year – making it the world’s largest funding organisation of its kind. They also promote internationalisation efforts at German universities, help developing countries build their own systems of higher education, and support German Studies and German language programmes abroad. It has a number of programmes and projects focusing on the African continent.

By establishing Centres of Excellence at leading African universities, the DAAD aims to create modern educational capacities of supraregional influence. The improvements in the educational quality and the greater research capacity available at these world-class hubs will enable the next generation of leaders to acquire training in line with international standards.

Along with the largely interdisciplinary Master’s and PhD programmes, all of the centres impart supplementary knowledge in the areas Good Governance, management and other multidisciplinary skills (conflict management, team building, intercultural competence). Moreover, all of the centres have a scholarship programme.

DIES stands for “Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies”. DIES supports higher education institutions in developing countries to develop strategies, which improve the university management as well as the quality and relevance of study programmes.

The DIES Programme is jointly conducted by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK).

DIES Partnerships supports South-South-North multiple-year higher education projects. With the DIES Projects extending over several years, we support the regional higher education organisations in their development and implementation of a quality assurance system.

The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) is responsible for the management of certain parts of the EU's funding programmes in the fields of education, culture, audiovisual, sport, citizenship and volunteering. EACEA is entrusted with the implementation of programmes and activities on behalf of the European Commission. It is for example responsible for Erasmus+, a scholarship programme that also provides funding for PhD students from Africa.

Doctoral education has been undergoing a dramatic change in the last decade in Europe. However, whereas the need for targeted investments in the personal and professional development of PhD candidates, support structures such as doctoral schools, and higher quality of scientific supervision are widely accepted, a proper investment in the professional development of administrative staff needed to support the overall endeavour, is rather neglected. Thus the framework changed without taking the needs of a professional administration fully into account.

The PRIDE project aims at elaborating an alternative approach to administration in the area of doctoral education.

The mission of the EUA Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE) is to contribute to the development, advancement and improvement of doctoral education and research training in Europe.

EUA-CDE was established in 2008, and is part of the Euopean University Association (EUA). It creates a strong voice for European universities on doctoral education both inside Europe and internationally and contributes to enhancing the visibility of doctoral/graduate/research schools and programmes.It builds on the outcomes of EUA’s policy and project work on doctoral education and research careers, and seeks to respond to growing demand from members for a more structured supporting framework and additional opportunities to promote cooperation and exchange of good practice on issues of common concern related to the organisation and quality of doctoral education in universities across Europe.

A number of programmes and project's were established by the EUA or the EUA-CDE, namely:

The CODOC project (2010-2012) examined doctoral education through the lens of a more balanced development in global knowledge and the role that Europe has to play in this. Its premise involved the following factors:

Changes in the global interconnectivity of universities due to internationalisation

Increasing drive around the world to develop knowledge societies based on high-skilled human resources

Growth in information and communication technology and its effects on competition and collaboration in a global market

The project was rooted in the growing cross-regional discussions on doctoral education, which have more or less been driven by Europe, North America and several other developed nations in Asia and the South Pacific. It was also inspired by the internal European discussions and rapid transformation of doctoral education in the Bologna process context. The growing international dimension in doctoral education dialogue and delivery seems to pay scarce attention to the developing world at present, where higher education and research are increasingly embedded in national growth strategies

The ARDE project examines European doctoral programmes in order to gather information about existing structures, good practice and areas of concern in assuring and enhancing quality in doctoral education.

Despite the substantial reforms that have taken place in doctoral education in recent years and the fact that many would argue that there are fundamental differences between the quality assurance (QA) developed for the first and second cycle and that for doctoral education, the means of enhancing accountability in this area have not yet been addressed systematically. This project aims to begin the discussion on this issue.

FRINDOC - Framework for the Internationalisation of Doctoral Education

FRINDOC aims at providing a comprehensive overview of good practices and valuable experiences for universities. The project will develop a framework containing a statement of good practice on internationalisation and an online tool for universities to aid planning and implementation of internationalisation strategies for doctoral education. It will be a comprehensive strategic tool for planning, promoting and supporting mobility in doctoral programmes enabling universities to attain a united picture of strategic goals, capacity and possibilities to implement the right structures for their particular profile.

The European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) is a federation of national organisations representing the interests of early-career researchers (ECRs) from 32 countries across Europe. Eurodoc is a registered non-profit organisation which is based in Brussels and was founded in 2002 to consolidate the community of ECRs across Europe and to represent their interests at the European level.

Eurodoc's main aims are:

(1) represent ECRs in matters of education, research, and professional development of their careers;

(2) advance the quality of doctoral programmes and the standards of research activity;

(3) circulate information on issues related to ECRs, organise events, take part in debates, and assist in the elaboration of policies on higher education and research;

(4) establish and promote cooperation between national associations representing ECRs in Europe. Much of Eurodoc's work is conducted within open working groups focusing on specific strategic topics for ECRs: Doctoral Training; Employment and Careers; Equality; Interdisciplinarity; Mobility; Open Science; Policy Research.

IAU, founded in 1950, is the UNESCO-based worldwide association of higher education institutions. It brings together institutions and organisations from some 120 countries for reflection and action on common concerns and collaborates with various international, regional and national bodies active in higher education. Its services are available on the priority basis to Members but also to organisations, institutions and authorities concerned with higher education, as well as to individual policy and decision-makers, specialists, administrators, teachers, researchers and students.

The IAU project "Innovative Approaches to Doctoral Education in Africa" is built on a first phase .which allowed to develop a self-assessment tool that was used by six pilot institutions to determine the nature of and challenges facing doctoral programs on the continent. The self-assessment tool is available to all and is to assist with improving data collection and storage mechanisms that can be used by institutions to develop institution-wide doctoral education and research strategies.

The development of the interactive portal www.idea-phd.net is a result of work undertaken since 2009 thanks to financial support provided by Sida, the Spanish Development Agency, and ACUP; Association for Catalan Universities. Data gathered on the portal have beeen provided by African higher education institutions and by various organisations.

icipe's mission is to help alleviate poverty, ensure food security and improve the overall health status of peoples of the tropics, by developing and extending management tools and strategies for harmful and useful arthropods, while preserving the natural resource base through research and capacity building.

The Centre's vision is to pioneer global science in entomology, to improve the well being and resilience of people and the environment to the challenges of a changing world, through innovative and applied research, alongside deep exploratory study, impact assessment, evaluation and sustainable capacity building.

A primary focus of the icipe Capacity Building and Institutional Development Programme is master’s and doctoral level training through the African Regional Postgraduate Programme in Insect Science (ARPPIS) and the Dissertation Research Internship Programme (DRIP).

MSc and PhD students are integrated into research projects in the centre’s four health (4H) themes where they pursue their passion in science and gain the necessary skills for a career in research. Student research projects span the whole continuum, from strategic basic research, technology development and validation, through to community-based adoption. Postgraduate students make outstanding discoveries and contribute to knowledge creation and sustainable development, and they greatly enhance the research capacity and status of icipe as a world-class centre for insect R&D. Postgraduate students have contributed to almost 50% of icipe’s research papers, and students are primary authors on approximately 40% of papers. Many students publish papers in high impact journals.

At any one time, the ARPPIS and DRIP programmes at icipe can have up to 100 MSc and PhD students. In 2014, 118 post-graduate students from 17 African countries, and 11 students from five non-African countries were at icipe conducting research at various stages of their projects. A total of 297 PhD students and 311 MSc students have completed their training at icipe since the inception of post-graduate training at the centre.

Beyond the postgraduate training programmes, icipe also aims to increase the capacity of diverse stakeholders in producing and using science and new technologies.

Each year icipe holds many training courses, workshops and other training events for research students and scientists, research and development collaborators, farmers and extension workers, and other stakeholders.

Training covers a range of research and development activities, spanning the continuum from basic strategic research to technology development and validation, and ultimately community-based adoption of new technologies:

Training of individuals in national systems, e.g. veterinary services across Africa involved in the monitoring of bee health.

Training of farmers, community and extension workers on the adoption of sustainable arthropod management technologies for improved livelihoods in Africa, e.g. Fruit fly integrated pest management, and Push-Pull technology to control of stem borer and striga in maize.

Part of Canada’s foreign affairs and development efforts, IDRC invests in knowledge, innovation, and solutions to improve lives and livelihoods in the developing world. Bringing together the right partners around opportunities for impact, IDRC builds leaders for today and tomorrow and helps drive large-scale positive change.

IDRC was established by an act of Canada’s parliament in 1970 to help developing countries find solutions to their challenges. The International Development Research Centre Act describes the Centre’s mandate: “to initiate, encourage, support, and conduct research into the problems of the developing regions of the world and into the means for applying and adapting scientific, technical, and other knowledge to the economic and social advancement of those regions.

IDRC is involved in a number of projects all over the African continent:

A new research network will explore how African universities can help innovation thrive on the continent.

This research will explore the extent to which universities encourage innovations that enhance the economic inclusion of populations engaged in informal sector jobs. By identifying new ways to involve a wider range of social actors, universities can help to connect knowledge, capital, and other assets that have traditionally supported innovation in areas such as the informal economy. Too often, universities have focused on research and development, the commercialization of products, and industry interactions, especially in the high tech sector. This approach often ignores the concept of inclusive development.

design and monitor research programs based on the use of robust science, technology, and innovation indicators

support knowledge exchange with the private sector

establish partnerships with each other and with other science system actors

Activities will include exchange and training, forums on evidence and best practices, online training, individualized on-site coaching, and collaborative research as requested by each participating Council.

The Initiative currently has funding for up to eight (8) Science Granting Councils. While the emphasis is on Eastern Africa; however the Initiative will include additional Councils from Southern, Central, and West Africa on request by countries. A further eight (8) Councils will be invited to participate in partnerships activities.

INASP is an international development charity working with a global network of partners to improve access, production and use of research information and knowledge, so that countries are equipped to solve their development challenges. They provide many ressources:

Established in 2003, the Network is intended for scholars, experts, practitioners, policy makers, funders, students, and others engaged in research and development focused on Africa. This resource has an important role to play in organizing and making sense of emerging developments. Its services include:

Knowledge transfer from Universities is universally recognised as an effective way to add value to society and the economy. Sharing knowledge, encouraging innovation and developing commercial activities all form an integral part of the knowledge economy and underpin innovation and the resulting economic growth and societal development. With the economic growth in Latin America more attention is being paid to the role and contribution of Universities in providing such knowledge. Yet, in many cases the research infrastructure, the capacity and capability to support Doctoral level research and the management of the research process and infrastructure are variable and in some cases highly limited and fragmented. New knowledge needs to be managed through a good research process and infrastructure or innovation will not occur/reach market. This requires a clear research strategy for the University and the development of an institutional research culture. The process is facilitated and sustained through the development of PhD and other forms of Doctoral students (DBA). The project aims to build the capacity of Latin American Universities to develop their research culture and construct focused, relevant and meaningful research strategies which support the need for innovation and new knowledge in the economy. Secondly, in order to support the creation of new knowledge the sustainability of contributions of the Universities to the society and economy, the project will develop the rigor, quality and transferability of Doctoral provision by building the capability and capacity for Doctoral supervision skills and Doctoral student training in Latin American Universities. The outcome from the project is a roadmap for research strategy development and a toolkit for shaping a research culture in a Latin American University, paired with a Doctoral Support Network and a curriculum of tools and techniques to help students and supervisors successfully navigate their Doctoral journey.

The Mastercard Foundation and Institute of Development Studies are delighted to announce the launch of The Matasa Fellows Network. This new and exciting initiative seeks to develop a cohort of young African researchers with the skills and commitment to engage in policy-oriented research around the challenges of young people and employment in Africa. Its aim is to contribute to the development of outstanding young researchers who will ultimately become leaders in their chosen fields. To kick-start the Network, ten fellowships will be awarded in 2016.

Each Matasa Fellow will produce a high quality synthesis paper and related policy brief. The synthesis papers will be published in a special issue of the IDS Bulletin.

Originally conceived of and organised as a National Academy, NAIRTL, the Network for Advancing the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning, was re-launched in June 2015 as a national and international network. NAIRTL is a SIF funded collaborative project between University College Cork (lead partner), Cork Institute of Technology, National University of Ireland Galway, Trinity College Dublin and Waterford Institute of Technology. The National Academy works with Irish higher education institutions to develop and implement policy and practices aimed at enhancing the student learning experience at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The Academy supports institutions through investigation and dissemination of national and international examples and models of good practice.

In 2008, NAIRTL started the Supervisor Support and Development working group to develop strategies for staff involved in supervision and develop various training materials for such staff.The outcomes of this working group are meant to be of use to any institution interested in developing their own supports for research supervisors. The working groups webpage also provides a link to a Supervisor forum which could shed light on challenges and opportunities in post-graduate supervision.

The Nestlé Foundation for the Study of Problems of Nutrition in the World was established in 1966 by a donation by the Nestlé Company on the occasion of its centenary. The Foundation is independent and self-constituting and is managed by a Council consisting of at least 5 internationally well-known scientists as Council Members. The Foundation is and has been financially and operationally independent of the Nestlé Company since its inception. The offices of the NestléFoundation are in Lausanne, Switzerland.

enLINK– education in nutrition link - an initiative from the Nestlé Foundation for the study of the problems of nutrition in the world in collaboration with Ovid Technologies.enLINK was created for researchers in low income countries with the aim of providing additional resources in the area of the study of human nutrition.enLINK offers information on nutrition for registered users. All users will find selected nutrition information, important links to other information sources and downloadable documents. As a registered user you will have full text access to key journals and books in human nutrition. enLINK users can search within these journals or with the help of the OvidSP search engine and as a registered user have direct full text access to the key journals. From all other journals abstracts can be retrieved.This collection of key nutrition journals and books has been realized thanks to the collaboration with Ovid and a small number of very interested publishers and organizations (Annual Reviews, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins). Their assistance is greatly appreciated.

Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Africa program focuses on higher education and libraries. This focus has the larger goal of contributing to human capital development in selected African countries, a goal that is in alignment with Corporation’s overall mission. This work in higher education and libraries is seen as an entry point to help African nations produce the necessary human resources and knowledge that can effectively address the larger issues of development and peace and security in Africa. For over a decade, the Corporation has engaged these issues through a series of systematic grants aimed at strengthening the capacity of eight African universities in five countries: Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. With investments from Carnegie Corporation worth about US$150 million and working collaboratively with six other private US foundations in what is known as the Partnership for Higher Education In Africa, the Corporation and its partners have contributed significantly to building institutional capacity and also improving the larger terrain of thinking about and managing universities in these countries.

The PANGeA network strives to develop research capacity on site, participate in exchange schemes, workshops and training seminars alternated between the various partner campuses, joint projects and supervision in the arts, humanities and social sciences. In the long run, the partner institutions aim to establish joint doctoral degrees amongst each other.

The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) is an independent, non-partisan pan-African not-for-profit organisation established in 2011 and located in Nairobi, Kenya. Currently engaged in more than 12 African countries, PASGR works to enhance research excellence in governance and public policy that contributes to the overall wellbeing of the citizens.

In partnership with individual academics and researchers, higher education institutions, research think tanks, civil society organisations, business and policy communities both in the region and internationally, PASGR supports the production and dissemination of policy relevant research; designs and delivers suites of short professional development courses for researchers and policy actors; and facilitates the development of collaborative higher education programmes.

Our vision is ‘a vibrant African social science community addressing the continent’s public policy issues’. PASGR’s three core programmes (Research, Higher Education, and Professional Development & Training) bring together the right mix of universities, research institutions, government, policy actors, researchers and academics to:

Establish and sustain partnerships at national/regional and international levels for advancing research, higher education and training;

Facilitate the creation of policy and research communities;

Enhance the institutionalisation of a research culture in Africa’s universities and research organisations; and,

Coordinate a collaborative Master of Research and Public Policy (MRPP) with universities in Africa.

ASGR’s Multi Method Research Course is a high level professional development course designed for African researchers seeking to broaden their familiarity with a range of conceptual and methodological approaches relevant to their research and teaching experience. It is relevant to researchers engaged in social science, social policy and/or governance research working in think tanks, universities and policy-research orientated NGOs, as well as graduate level teaching staff in African universities who are actively engaged in research, and teach research courses.

The Robert Bosch Stiftung is one of the major German foundations associated with a private company and has managed the philanthropic bequest of company founder Robert Bosch for over 50 years. The Foundation is divided into areas to support and operate its aid program. In order to pursue the Foundation's objectives, it promotes external projects and initiates its own projects for developing and running programs. The Foundation engages in a variety of topics, including: health, education, international relations, culture, society and science.

The African Science Leadership Program is aimed at young scientists in Africa who want to take on a leadership role in terms of shaping science and research, both at their own universities and across institutions and national borders. Alongside seminars on the development of management, communication, and leadership skills, this twelve-month program also covers the implementation of individual projects designed to bring about improvement in scientific management. Participants are supported by mentors for the entire year. The leadership program aims to not only improve the qualifications of the individual participants but also to facilitate the development of a pan-African network of leaders. The idea is that this network will help Africa become a strong player in the international research community.

Located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, Rhodes is a small university which enjoys the distinction of having among the best undergraduate pass and graduation rates in South Africa, outstanding postgraduate success rates, and the best research output per academic staff member. This is testimony to the quality of students that Rhodes attracts and of academic provision, and to the commitment of Rhodes staff to student development and success.

This innovative course provides the structured support needed by academics as they take on the complex and demanding role of doctoral supervision. The course combines discussions, case studies, research literature, video clips, and numerous other activities and information, both online and face-to-face, to help the new supervisor engage with the practice and process of doctoral supervision in a reflective and informed way.

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, is a government agency working on behalf of the Swedish parliament and government, with the mission to reduce poverty in the world. Through our work and in cooperation with others, we contribute to implementing Sweden’s Policy for Global Development.

University of Rwanda-Sweden Programme for Research and Institutional Advancement

UR-Sweden Programme for Research and Institutional Advancement In June 2014, the National University of Rwanda (NUR) entered in a one-year agreement with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) represented by the Swedish Embassy in Kigali. The agreement covers the first year of the five year NUR-Sweden Program for Research and Institutional Development (the Program). The support focuses on the continuous development of research capacity in Rwanda and the general university institutional development. The Program marks the third phase of the research cooperation between NUR and Sweden, which started in 2002.

The Directorate of Research and Graduate Training coordinates the Makerere bilateral collaborative research program supported by the government of Sweden (formerly Sida/SAREC) since inception in 2000.

The overall goal of the program is to assist Uganda in its efforts to promote research for attainment of new knowledge. In support of an environment conducive for research and research training, the program coined the slogan

“To support the supervisor to supervise” through collaboration with universities and scientists in Sweden and elsewhere. The Research support program has been coordinated by the Directorate of Research and Graduate Training.

The Science Initiative Group (SIG), based at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, is dedicated to fostering science in developing countries. It was established in 1999 to provide scientific and administrative oversight for the Millennium Science Initiative. SIG aims to incubate initiatives that ultimately become rooted in their home countries, and by 2012 the MSI was operating independently in Chile, Brazil, and Uganda.

RISE prepares PhD- and MSc-level scientists and engineers in sub-Saharan Africa through competitively selected, university-based research and teaching networks. Its primary purpose is to strengthen science research and education in sub-Saharan Africa by increasing the population of qualified academic staff in the region’s universities. RISE's broader goal is to build capacity in science, technology and innovation to stimulate economic development in sub-Saharan Africa.

RISE has been supported since its establishment in 2008 by generous grants from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Each of the current five networks has also attracted supplementary program funding and individual research grants from a variety of sources.

As of 2016, SIG is preparing to transfer responsibility for RISE to a permanent secretariat in Africa.

SIU is a knowledge and service organisation that promotes international cooperation at all levels of education. The centre is Norway’s public agency for international programmes and measures related to education. SIU is also responsible for promoting Norway as a cooperation and study destination.

Strengthened partnerships for education and research between developing countries and Norway

Increased quality and internationalisation of academic programmes at participating institutions

Increased mobility of students from developing countries to Norway, including mobility in connection with work placements

Increased mobility of students from Norway to developing countries, including mobility in connection with work placements

NORPART will support close academic cooperation and mutual student mobility between higher education institutions in Norway and the partner countries, based on common academic interests and strategic priorities of the institutions. Student mobility through academic partnerships is a core element in the programme, with emphasis on the mobility of students from partner countries to Norway.

The University is amongst South Africa's leading tertiary institutions based on research output, student pass rates and rated scientists, and is recognised internationally as an academic institution of excellence. It boasts the highest weighted research output per full-time academic staff member of all South African universities and the second-highest number of scientists in South Africa who have been rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF). It also has the highest student success rate in the country.

The main aim of the ADA is to ensure a strong profile on doctoral training for doctoral candidates (current and aspiring), postdoctoral fellows and supervisors, at Stellembosch University, other Higher Education Institutions in South Africa and further afield in Africa.

The ADA continues its current successful offerings for capacity development at doctoral level through offering Summer and Winter Schools in Research Methods on an annual basis, as well as methodology and analysis workshops to provide hands-on skills training. Significant emphasis will be put on expanding these offerings to all disciplines and on providing training related to multidisciplinary research. ​As a dimension of capacity building, networking encourages relationships at a number of levels. Currently SU has partnered with a number of institutions and programs that include 14 active bilateral agreements with higher education institutions in Africa, and is part of the Intra-ACP Mobility programme, PANGeA and PeriPeriU.

These offerings and initiatives tie in with the African Research Universities Alliance's goals, launched in March 2015. The three main ARUA would like to focus on, include "improving training and support for PhD students, capacity building to enhance research management, and collaborative research".

The Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) was established as a research centre on the 1st of January 1995 in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University. In January 2010 it also became an academic department in the same Faculty. As a research centre its work covers the broad fields of bibliometrics and scientometrics, research on higher education knowledge production, human resources in science and technology, research evaluation and impact assessment studies and studies on the communication patterns of scientists. As an academic department it hosts five post-graduate programmes in Monitoring and Evaluation Studies and Science and Technology Studies. Since the 1st of April 2014 it hosts the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and since the 1st of January 2015 the SARCHI Chair in Science Communication.

The DRUSSA programme aims to improve the accessibility, uptake and utilisation of locally contextualised development research evidence on climate change and environment, health, information, education, governance, food security, and livelihoods to inform sub-Saharan and global development policy and practice.

Leiden University was founded in 1575 and is one of Europe’s leading international research universities. It has seven faculties in the arts, sciences and social sciences, spread over locations in Leiden and The Hague. The University has over 5,500 staff members and 25,800 students. The motto of the University is 'Praesidium Libertatis' – Bastion of Freedom.

The African Studies Centre Leiden is the only multidisciplinary academic knowledge institute in the Netherlands devoted entirely to the study of Africa. It has an extensive library that is open to the general public. The ASCL is an interfaculty institute of Leiden University.

As of January 2012, the ASCL has a new research programme entitled ‘Africa and the Global Restructuring’ that has four different fields of study and the PhD students’ research is reflected in these themes.

Education at Uppsala University is characterised by its association with research. Students acquire up-to-date knowledge as well as the skills and capacity for independent and critical thinking. Highly qualified teaching staff is responsible for the pedagogical quality of education and for ensuring that the education we offer is grounded in scientific and scholarly progress. Together, teachers and students take shared responsibility for creating learning environments characterised by active student participation and engagement.Doctoral students are instrumental to the long-term development of universities as well as the public and private sectors. They make significant contributions to the University’s research. The education offered in our doctoral programmes gives students the competence and skills to conduct research independently, enables a deep understanding of the subject area, fosters proficiency in disseminating knowledge and enables the learning of others.

International Science Programme (ISP), established at Uppsala University in 1961, aims to contribute to the growth of scientific knowledge in developing countries. ISP provides support to institutionally based research groups and regional scientific networks in Africa, Asia and Latin America, assisting them to build and strengthen their domestic research capacity and postgraduate education in the basic sciences – chemistry, mathematics and physics. Current support is directed to research groups located at universities and academic institutions in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Laos, Myanmar, Mali, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Regional networks are coordinated from countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The basic operational mode of ISP is to provide long-term support for developing active and sustainable research environments locally. The support is adapted to the specific needs of the partners, and may be used for e.g. equipment, consumables, literature, computing tools, exchange of scientists, and postgraduate training. The supported activities are demand driven, of relevance to the countries and regions concerned, and in accordance with local strategies and plans.

The ISP model is designed to prevent brain drain by improving local facilities and by employing “sandwich” postgraduate training when needed, where students spend part of their research training at their home university and part at a more resourceful host university abroad. The continued contact with the home institution throughout the postgraduate training, in combination with improved facilities, are considered the two main contributing factors to why a large majority of the students from ISP supported groups and networks stay in their home countries and regions after graduation. Collaborating host institutions are located in the north, mainly in Sweden and Europe, or in the partner regions. ISP serves as a link between the supported groups, networks and collaborating institutions worldwide – providing funding, coordination and mentoring.

ISP’s main funding comes from the Swedish government through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Other important contributors are Uppsala University and Stockholm University. ISP is continuously looking for new collaborating partners to broaden the funding base, to scale up the model and provide support to new partner countries.

The Nordic Africa Institute (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet) is a center for research, documentation and information on modern Africa in the Nordic region.Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the Institute is dedicated to providing timely, critical and alternative research and analysis of Africa in the Nordic countries and to strengthen the co-operation between African and Nordic researchers. As a hub and a meeting place in the Nordic region for a growing field of research and analysis the Institute strives to put knowledge of African issues within reach for scholars, policy makers, politicians, media, students and the general public. The Institute is financed jointly by the Nordic countries.

The West and Central African Research and Education Network's mission is To build and operate a world class network infrastructure, develop state of the art services, promote collaboration among national, regional, international research and education communities and build the capacity of the REN community.

The World Bank Group has set two goals for the world to achieve by 2030:

End extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.90 a day to no more than 3%

Promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40% for every country

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. We are not a bank in the ordinary sense but a unique partnership to reduce poverty and support development. The World Bank Group comprises five institutions managed by their member countries.

The development objective of the Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project for Africa is to support the Recipients to promote regional specialization among participating universities in areas that address regional challenges and strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver quality training and applied research. The project has two components. The first component will strengthen 19 centers of excellence in selected higher education institutions to produce highly skilled graduates and applied research to help address specific regional development challenges. The second component, enhancing regional capacity, evaluation, and collaboration has following three sub-components: (i) enhancing regional capacity and evaluation which will be financed through a regional International Development Association (IDA) grant to the Association of African Universities (AAU); (ii) project facilitation in Nigeria will finance project implementation support and facilitation for the National Universities Commission in Nigeria; and (iii) enhancing demand-driven regional education services in the Gambia will finance provision of higher education services to the Gambia's students, faculty, and civil servants.

For further information related to the World Bank, please visit also the Academic Cooperation Association and their webpage about Euro-African Cooperation

The development objective of the proposed Mali Higher Education Support Project (HESP) is to improve the relevance of selected higher educationprograms and the stewardship of the higher education system in Mali.

The Wellcome Trust is an independent global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health. Science and research expand knowledge by testing and investigating ideas. This new understanding can be applied to health and change medicine, behaviour and society. The Wellcome Trust funds overseas programmes In Malawi, South Africa, Vietnam and Thailand, Kenya and Laos. For more information, please check their Major Overseas Programmes Website.

Seven leading African researchers are the recipients of major funding from the Wellcome Trust and the Department for International Development (DFID) to establish cutting-edge research and training programmes across the continent.We are currently working to hand over the management of the DELTAS Africa awards to a new research initiative in Africa, AESA (Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa). AESA was created by the African Academy of Sciences and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and has been working in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and DFID.

The KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) is based within a KEMRI centre (the Centre for Geographic Medical Research - Coast). Our core activities are funded by the Wellcome Trust. We conduct integrated epidemiological, social, laboratory and clinical research in parallel, with results feeding into local and international health policy. Research capacity in Africa remains very low; in part, due to the failure of many capacity building initiatives to address long-term sustainability. Emphasis is often laid on training alone without regard to the full career path needed to generate research leaders. KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) has therefore developed a framework for the long-term development of local research leadership. The framework aims to attract talented people, provide them with high quality research training and support their career development beyond training in order to retain them in the region. Earlier on we focused on the attracting and training aspect of the framework. From 2013 the emphasis has shifted to support for postdoctoral career progression and research leadership development in order to nurture the next generation of East African research leaders.

MLW is an internationally leading health research institution led by Malawian & International Scientists, pursuing scientific excellence and improving the health of people in sub-Saharan Africa.Since its inception in 1995, MLW has maintained partnership with College of Medicine at the University of Malawi, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the University of Liverpool and our major funder the Wellcome Trust. MLW is based in Blantyre with field research sites around urban Blantyre, Thyolo and Chikhwawa.

Our core aim is to improve population health by reducing the phenomenal burden of HIV and TB in the population of rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and limiting the morbidity and mortality associated with emerging non-communicable diseases. This is achieved through cutting-edge multidisciplinary research with a focus on impact and policy change.

We focus our strategy on five programmes, each of which incorporates multidisciplinary research from across the Africa Centre for Population Health Faculty, supplemented by external Fellowship, theme and grant funding.